"Worry"

This has been automatically generated, and therefore may contain some unintended inaccuracies.

Our reading today, is the book of Luke chapter 12, starting from verse 22. Then Jesus said to his disciples, therefore, I tell you, do not worry about your life. What you will eat or about your body, what you will wear. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. Consider the Ravens.

They do not sow or reap. They have no storeroom or barn yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds. Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?

Consider the wild how the wild flower flowers grow. They do not labor or spin, yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like 1 of these. If that is how God closed the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you? You of little faith. I do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink.

Do not worry about it. For the Pagan world runs after all such things, and your father knows that you need them. But seek his kingdom and these things will be given to you as well. Do not be a afraid little flock for your father has been pleased to give you the kingdom, sell your possessions and give to the poor, provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out a treasure in heaven that will never fail. Where no thief comes near and no moth destroys.

For where your treasure is, there, your heart will be also. Good morning, everyone. My maverick, if you don't know me. 1 of the members here at Hope Church. And, it's a it's a privilege to be opening up god's word, today.

So do keep your bibles open to that, that passage, and we'll be referring back to it as we as we go along. So we are in a new sermon series, called Stories On The Road, and it's all about stories that Jesus told on his way to Jerusalem, in the book of Luke. And last week, we heard the story about the rich fool, who is, who well, actually the story is told by Jesus, after a question is asked in the, in, in, in the crowd. And, he talks about this rich fool who puts his trust in his wealth. Rather than on God and is condemned by God for doing so.

And immediately after the storages then turns to his disciples to then specifically, basically preach preach to them, really. And he tells him 2 very short stories, which we're gonna be looking at today. So as we look into this, passage, let's pray, and then we'll we'll get into it. So heavenly father, we, come to you with thanks and praise for your word. We ask that as we hear what's being said through this word that you give us ears to hear, eyes to see the lord Jesus Christ for who he is.

Hazah is softened by the word till being and hands are quick to do your gospel work. In your name, we pray, amen. Now worry worry is the title of the 7, and, it's the issue that Jesus turns to with his disciples. There there is a connection between what we saw last week in this man's obsession with his security and worry. And that's the problem that Jesus turns to.

So there's 3 points of the 7. First first point is the the problem. Now look me with me in verses 22 and 23. Then Jesus said to his disciples, therefore, I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you wear? For life is more than food, and the body more than clothes.

Now in order to understand what Jesus means by worry, we have to kind of understand what he doesn't mean by worry. There's a kind of concern that drives us to plan ahead for the future and to do what's necessary. So for instance, you might be thinking, okay, in old age, how will I provide for myself because I won't be earning any money? And so naturally, you'd want to invest in pensions. You might have some investments.

You might have assets. That's prudence, that's wise. So God is not saying don't be prudent, that that's not the point. Or you might he's certainly not saying that you shouldn't be anxious, because anxiety is kind of a feeling that comes upon you, like, like, happiness or anger, it's it's a feeling. He's not saying don't feel this thing.

That's not quite what he's saying. So but what is he what is he getting at? I think he's telling us, when you do feel anxious, what do you do with those anxious feelings? You see, the the natural tendency for us is that, sir, we want to take control whenever we feel that things are out of control. That's what worry is all about.

So naturally, some for some people, that's what they do. They they want to take control. So they will over plan We have to we have we have a plan a, plan b, plan c, plan z, plan for everything. For some people, there's reassurance. They just wanna be reassured.

They go to talk to 1 person, you know, you're fine. You're fine. This is okay. Yep. That's great.

Next person, oh, yeah, you're fine. You're fine. You're fine. You're fine. We just keep on going.

We just want the reinsurance. For others, it's just overworking. We work, work, work, work, work, work, work, work, and work because we think that that will help solve the problem. And for yet others counseling intuitively, it might be avoidance. You just say, okay, well, this thing is so bothersome to me.

I'm just gonna leave it to 1 side. Shut down. Just withdraw. And for others, it might be something more compulsive. Maybe it's, abusing alcohol or drugs.

Over eating, there could be all kinds of ways that we try to deal with our worry. But notice that none of these things will solve the underlying issue. They only just mask the symptoms, and and even then just for a little while. So the kind of worry that Jesus is talking about is an all encompassing concern for ourselves, an all encompassing concern for ourselves. This concern basically takes up our thinking.

It takes up our energy. It drives our actions. That is what Jesus is talking about. That is the problem. Verse 20 22 says, therefore, I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear.

And Jesus is saying to us, don't even let legitimate needs consume you. Because any of those things could be could be wary for us. So that's the problem. That's the problem with worry. And here is Jesus diagnosis.

So look down at verses 24 and verse 24, He says, consider consider the Ravens, they do not sow or reap. They have no storeroom or barn, yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable are you than the birds? Now Ravens are not the kind of animals that that that store food, like, say, squirrels, for instance, and they have to go out every single day. And somehow with the wind and the rain and the snow, God still provides for them.

They they're able to find their food and they carry on living. With no planning God provides for them. And this is just a very small illustration where Jesus is basically trying to say to us, if my father cares enough to provide for something or some so seemingly insignificant, won't he then provide for you who he cares infinitely more for? So the argument is is quite simply from the lesser to the greater if I do this, wouldn't I do that? If he bothers with a little thing, he will bother with a bigger thing.

And he kind of reinforces this point in his next illustration, the next little story, he says in verses 27 and 28. If you look down at that, he says, consider the wildflowers, consider how the wildflowers grow. They don't labor a spin, yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all this splendor was dressed like 1 of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, How much more will he clothe you? You of little faith.

Again, a similar illustration from the lesser to the greater. He does 1 thing for this, again, seemingly insignificant thing once he do the same for you, but this illustration, he goes even further. And this is the mention there of of Solomon. Now King Solomon, 1 of, the greatest kings of Israel, so wealthy, and brought so much wealth into the nation that it said that gold was just abundant and people just didn't even want silver anymore because it was just like, you know, second class kind of thing. That's how wealthy it was.

And King's, Marigals will dress in a manner that is fitting of their position, of their title. And Solomon being the richest man anyone had ever seen, would have dressed the past, as you you'd might imagine. You see the King Charles, you know, in his Royal Regalia. Maybe that's the kind of thing that Solomon wore. It's not the kind of thing you go, you know, to the shops with.

It's some of the signals who you are. And Jesus says, not even Solomon is is is dressed in the splendor of just 1, just 1, well, of these wildflowers. I've never really thought about wildflowers being dressed. It says something about god, because I think what you're saying is that the wildfires didn't really need this kind of beauty, but god, in his grace, in his mercy, in who he is, provides an abundance for them. So this is beyond basic necessity.

And again, the argument is kind of if he's so extravagant with something that is so insignificant, Here today and Tamura's thrown to the fire, how much more will he give to his children? And we'll see later just how much he does give to his children. So what is his diagnosis of our problem with worry? Well, if you look down at verses 25 and 26, which you can be kinda skipped over. He says, who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life?

Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest? Now reading this the first time, I don't know about you, bro, I kind of thought to me. This can sounds a bit maybe callous, maybe a bit uncaring, very logical, but I'm I'm that kind of person. So so perfectly understandable, but, it may not be very emotionally satisfying. But, there is something very important that we have to listen to, when Jesus says this.

He's saying 2 things about worry, well, he's saying 1 really main thing about worry, and that says that it's ineffective. It can't change your situation. We can think about a problem, but that doesn't do anything about the problem. We're told that, in a in an average lifetime, we have about 600 to 700000 breaths. And Jesus says, can you add even 1 hour?

Or, sorry, 6 6, sorry, 600 to 700000 hours, rather, to our entire lifetime? And he says, can you add even 1 hour to that number? Can you add 1 600000 of of of your lifetime, you know, to to what you have. And and the the truth is we can't, we can't do even that little thing. Our very life, our very life is a gift to us from god.

Our breath is a gift. And most of us hardly even think about it moment by moments. We don't think Oh, yes. I got another breath. Oh, yes.

Another 1. You know, we we know if you if you'd be a nervous wreck, if you were like that. But we don't worry about it. We we and that is our very life. And Jesus is saying, if if he gives you your very life, won't he give you your necessities?

And, of course, he will. Look down again at services 29 and 30? He says, and do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink. Do not worry about it. For the pagan world runs after such things, and your father knows that you need them.

Now the word, the word pagan is really anyone who doesn't worship god, And the the Greek word that's used there for run, in some translations is strive or struggle. And it it implies a pursuit. It's a pursuit that's driven by anxiety. It's focused. It's intense.

It's frantic. It's chasing, but never actually quite making it there. And now, many years ago, I am decided and I can't remember why I decided I was gonna do a 10 k obstacle race. Now I'm not a long distance runner. I wasn't there.

I'm not now. I had about 3 months to train from 0 to 10 k. So, I thought 1 thing to do is sign up for parkruns at Busy Park. Now at the time, we were Cornerstone, And there was a guy who had just come to cornerstone. His name is Taras, from Belarus.

Now, some people smiling because they already know where this is going. Tara, Taras was an Olympian. He ran middle distance for his country. And I thought, fantastic. This is a great way to train because I knew my my 5 k time was good, but if I run with Taras, that's like free training from an from an Olympian.

What more could you ask for? That was my idea. So I told Tara, he said, oh, fantastic. I also go for parkrun, so let's go together. We went we went the next week, there's Tara to the starting line.

I run up to meet him, and he says, he says to be something along the lines of this. He says, Abrey, you know, today I'm really trying to beat my time. So, I won't be running with you. I'll see you at the end. And I go, who does this guy think he is?

I've been playing basketball for 15 years and he thinks that I can't, like, okay, fine. Plan is out of the window. I'm going to, I'm actually going to beep this guy. What does he think he is an Olympian or something? So starting gun goes off, there we go.

I'm off. And a few seconds into the race, I look look back, and there's Tara's 20, 20 meters behind me. Fantastic. And I don't know what he's thinking, but I know what I'm thinking. I'm thinking This is really quick.

It's a really quick pace. Fricker than normal. And a few more seconds into the race, and I'm thinking, I don't think I can sustain this pace. And then a few more seconds into the race, about 500 meters into a actually 200 meters into a 5000 meter race. I'm like, dying to breathe.

This terraces goes past me. I get overtaken by a lady pushing a pram, overtaken by a guy walking his dog, a guy with his 8 year old son, a guy who's at least 40 years older than me, and I'm like, okay, this is just embarrassing. And the whole race, I'm thinking, okay, I'm gonna catch my second breath. I got let's let's go. Let's go.

Let's go. Doesn't happen. The whole race, I'm chasing Terrace, and he's already finished and I'm still just halfway halfway towards the end. And that's the picture, that's the picture of the pagan or the non believer who is striving in this world and worrying constantly chasing and just never really actually arriving there. And it's exhausting.

And this is what this is like if you don't know a heavenly father who provides for you, you have to keep chasing. You have to keep running. And life is filled with so many gurus who would tell us, okay, this is how you can become less exhausted by life. But that's that's not the point. So this is Jesus diagnosis of worry that it is ineffective and it's exhausting.

So we've seen the problem. We've seen the diagnosis, but let's turn to the cure. Look at me at her versus 13 30 to 32. He says, for the pagan world runs after such things, and your father knows that you need them, but seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well. Do not be afraid little flock for your father has been pleased to give you the kingdom?

Now there's there's a couple of contrasting images here. We see the person who doesn't follow god, the pagan, who's that runner in second place, striving, never reaching there, and then we see the Christian who seeks out the kingdom. In other words, to seek out, implies, like, a longing, like, really deep longing for something. But the Christian, I was trying to think of an illustration, and the Christian is more like an avid reader, you know, the kind of person who sits you know, maybe for an hour to read a book, but 6 hours later you stand up, and you've you've read the entire thing. You know, that person is keen, settled, and actually immersed in the world of the book.

Both people are doing work, but only 1 of them is actually being rewarded for that work. Jesus says in verse 32 do not be afraid little flock for your father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. And you see, the the Christian has been rewarded already. He's pleased to give you the kingdom. That's past tense.

He's he's given us he's given us the kingdom. And he gave everything everything. So we don't have to obsess over ourselves See, when we seek his kingdom, what we're doing is we're replacing this all encompassing, concern for ourselves with an all encompassing concern for his glory. And when we seek his kingdom, what we're trying to do is align everything in our lives whether that's our work, family, finances, resources, ambitions, everything with his priorities. And and Jesus kinship reflects, sort of affects how we live and the kinds of decisions that we make in life.

1 practical application of of this is that we prioritize the gathering of his people, whether that's on a Sunday, whether that's in gospel communities, prayer meetings, and the like. All of these things helping to transform our lives. And those who've been in in as been Christians and been in the church for a while will attest to what I'm about to say. As we prioritize the kingdom, Those worries will fall away. I'm sure you've seen many people, and you might be 1 of those people where you come to church, you come, perhaps, not as a Christian, become a Christian, but you still have all these worries And as you turn from within yourself, just looking at yourself all the time to god's kingdom and his people, those worries kind of just dissipate, and there there's lots of testimonies like this at church.

So we will never really avoid worrying this life. But by god's grace, we can worry less about life. And with his kingdom in mind, Jesus says in verse 33, sell all your possessions gives it and give it all to the poor. Jesus means exactly exactly what he says. And some maybe some people might be thinking I was with you until that point.

He says many hard things, in in the gospels. This is 1 of them, and, it's it's 2 things, a is true, and b is designed to actually expose our hearts' deepest desires. See, Jesus has never about outward displays. There have been billionaires recently who've given away 90, 99 percent of their wealth. That's really kind of another point.

It's It's actually about the heart. It's your about the desires and motivations because you can have 2 people who do exactly the same thing, but 1 person is motivated by 1 thing, and another person is motivated by a completely different thing. There was just another story in the Bible, where Jesus is approached by a rich young ruler. And, he asked Jesus what he can do to an eternal life. Jesus says, basically obey all the commandments of God any don't know why, but he says, yeah, I've I've done all that.

And Jesus says, okay. Well, there is 1 more thing you can do, sell all your possessions. Give us a the poor, follow me. And that's the point when the man is dejected. He turns around and he walks away.

Now, Jesus's words basically exposed his heart because he's thinking, yeah, I've I've done everything, but, really, his money was an idle term. It was that was his security. It wasn't god. So if this commandment of Jesus makes us uncomfortable, it's it's supposed to. And we are meant to ask the question, what does this say about my heart?

My desires, my motivations. We should be the types of people who are happy, happy to just sell our possessions and give to people in need. We should be those types of people. But we're not. Again, verses 33 to 34, sell your possessions and gifts to the poor.

Provide purses for yourself, for yourselves that will not wear out a treasure in heaven that will never fail. When no thief comes near, no monster destroys, for where your treasure is, there, your hearts will be also. God, our father calls us to be generous like him, because he gave up his most precious possession, his only son, and for our sake. He provides our needs, and he says to us give generously. And he doesn't ask us to give what we don't have because he provides us everything Whatever you have is God who's given that to you.

He's given it to you so that you can give, whether that's, again, money, time, resources, knowledge, whatever it is. But instead, what we try to do is we hold on to our resources, because we want control, we want that security. But the real security, actually, doesn't come from the physical things in this world. It all ultimately comes from God and his kingdom. Which he has given to us.

So in the book of acts, acts chapter 4, the early Christians, stood out from their culture because they sold their possessions, and they gave to each other so there was no 1 in need. And that was quite a witness to the culture. And if we are generous to each other, Hope Church, The world will see something of the law's generosity to us in Jesus Christ. So what's the cure to earthly worries? Well, as heavenly treasures is the kingdom of god.

So how can we apply some of this in our lives as well? Firstly, we need to repent. And I'm preaching to myself here as well, because the lord may be telling you that you're holding on to something very tightly, something that gives you security, something that you will try never to give up, and as you can always find a reason not to. But repent and ask him that he would change your heart so that you are the kind of person who will give up gladly just as he gave up everything for us. Second b, we need to give we need to give knowing that he provides, and that there are no doubt many needs in this church, not just what we do on a Sunday.

But in people's lives as well. And we can be generous with the resources that he's given us. So we need to ask prayerfully, what do I have? What can I give? And how much?

It needs to be wise about that. You know, if you are if you if you if you are supporting your whole family, you you practically can't you you can't sell your house and give away all of your money because you wouldn't be able to take care of your children. So we need to be wise about what we do. But again, it's all about the heart. Are you the kind of person who would gladly do this?

Let's look at some of some words from to Corinthians chapter 9 verses 6 to 7. This is Paul writing to the Corinthians and he says this. Remember this, whoever sows sows sparingly will also reap sparingly. And whoever sells generously will also reap generously. Each of you should give what you have decided in your hearts to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

And God is able to bless you abundantly so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work as it is written. They have freely scattered their gifts to the poor, their righteousness endures forever. Now he who supplies seed to the sewer and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and more than enlarge your harvest of righteousness. You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion. And through us, your generosity will result in Thanksgiving to god.

So we are witnesses to the world in how we give and how we love 1 another in our giving. Because giving is actually at the heart of the gospel. Because God has given his most precious possession, and he promises to supply all of our needs, we are freed Not to hold on to our possessions or to hold on to them loosely and then to give generously. Let's pray together. Philippians chapter 4 and verse 6 says be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving.

Let your requests be made known to god. My heavenly father, we thank you for your word. And, we thank you that, that you do care about the heart and you are transforming us by the power of your holy spirit to be like the lord Jesus Christ. Will we ask that you would help us to change our ways, lord transform our hearts by your by your holy spirit? That we would be the kind of people who loosely hold on to the things that you have given.

That we would be aware that these are all gifts from you and that we will be generous. Please further help us in this, we ask in your name, amen.